Paper trimmer



y 1963 E. F. FISCHER ETAL 3,089,373

PAPER TRIMMER Filed Aug. 3, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS EDMUND F. FISCHER ALVIN R. POTTERN ATTORNEY.

E. F. FISCHER ETAL 3,089,373

May 14, 1963 PAPER TRIMMER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 3, 1960 INVENTORS EDMUND F. FISCHER ALVIN R.POTTERN ATTORNEY.

May 14, 1963 E. F. FISCHER ETAL PAPER TRIMMER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 5. 1960 INVENTORS EDMUND F. FISHER ALVIN R.POTTERN ATTOR NEY.

, 3,389,373 Patented May 14, 1963 3,089,373 hAPER TRIMMER Edmund F. Fischer, East Longrneadow, and Alvin R. Potters, Springfield, Mass, assignors to Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation Fiied Aug. 3, 1960, Ser. No. 47,288 1 (Claim. (Cl. 83468) The present invention relates generally to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in trimming and cutting apparatus and is essentially designed and adapted for embodiment in a hand-operated type of cutter having a stationary blade and a movable blade cooperating therewith for the shearing and trimming of sheets placed therebetween.

It will be helpful to an understanding of our invention to first briefly consider some of the essential points and more important features and aspects thereof, so that same may be kept in mind during the subsequent reading of the detailed description of the practical embodiments of our improvements and of the illustrations thereof in the here-' unto annexed drawings.

The particular embodiment of the present invention, which is illustrated in the drawings, and which will be described hereinafter in greater detail, embraces the concept of a novel and improved construction of the type in which a compression lift spring replaces the conventional torsion type spring of the prior art. Being of sufiicient strength as to swing the handle upwardly, the compression lift spring hereof offers a soft action and does not uncomfortably resist the downward movement of the handle.

The invention has for another of its objects the provision of an improved trimming board having certain desirable features not heretofore available in this type of equipment. Trimming boards have been conventionally produced wherein a cutting edge has been disposed along one side of a generally rectangular member and a cutting knife has been pivoted near the cutting edge so as to act to shear sheet matenal projecting over the cutting edge. This type of trimming board has been provided with cross lines on its upper surface dividing the board into squares, generally an inch each way, and, at the top of the board, a scale has been provided to show the distance from the cutting edge in either inches or metric figures. This type of trimming board has been particularly adapted for photographic work and has frequently been referred to as a photographic paper trimmer. Its simplicity and utility have been so well known that its marked disadvantages in many instances have not been given consideration. For example, it has been practically impossible to work therewith in a dark room with any degree of accuracy, since the paper must be held carefully along the ruled lines in order to square it for cutting. Even When it is employed outside of a dark room, it has been difficult to obtain any satisfactory cutting speed because of the time required to true up the paper to the lines ruled on the board. This is particularly true when an attempt is made to use such trimming board as a semi-production imple: ment, a manner in which it is often used in small photographic establishments. As an example, it may be desired to make enlargement prints of a size other than standard, and the most advantageous way of accomplishing this is to cut photographic print paper from larger sheets into sheets of a size desired, and this must be done in a dark room, and the operation may be repeated time after time. The ruled lines on the natural wood colored board cannot be seen readily in a dark room, if they can be seen at all, so that it takes time to arrange the paper on the board so that it will cut in the desired shape.

The disadvantages outlined above are illustrative and are suggestive of specific objects of the invention and the functions and advantages secured by our invention, as brought out in the following specification.

The invention resides in the particular construction,

arrangement, combination, and relationship of the various elements, components and instrumentalities of a paper trimmer as exemplified in the detailed disclosure hereinafter set forth wherein the objects of the invention, as defined in the paragraphs below, will be apparent.

In the accomplishment of our objects, we provide a movable blade having a cutting edge which is inclined across the cutting edge of the fixed or stationary blade during the cutting action and is spring biased toward said stationary blade so as to establish a normal, lateral engagement pressure between the blades.

Another chief object hereof is to provide a shearing mechanism in which various operating instrumentalities are enclosed or concealed in manner to improve upon conventional prior art constructions by the provision of good aesthetic, as well as safe functional, design.

Additionally, it is a salient object hereof to so construct a trimmer that the grain of the Wood platform or work surface lays parallel to the grain of a horizontal abutment guide or ruler, so as to minimize the deviation between the graduations on the horizontal guide or ruler and the vertical scored guide lines on the work platform or work surface resulting from any expansion or contraction of the wood of the respective components.

' As a further refinement, we provide a trimming board having improved means for making guide adjustments with a high degree of facility and accuracy.

Still another important feature of our invention is the substitution for the common vertically-disposed curved blade of a relatively inexpensive, thin, fiat, horizontallydisposed cutting blade which may be fashioned in manner to provide all the advantages of the conventional curved blade while simultaneously providing important distinct advantages over conventional mechanisms as to construction, durability, efiiciency, economy, safety and the like.

Another of the primary features hereof lies in the novel construction of a movable guide bar which is slidably adjustable in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the plane of the fixed cutting blade to provide an accurate guiding mechanism with positive indexing and locking features, said mechanism being quickly and easily attached to or detached from the work platform.

As still another feature, the lever carrying the movable cutter or knife is formed from metal to provide a durable construction. Also, the manually engageable portion thereof is angularly disposed relative to the longitudinal body thereof to facilitate the gripping of the same.

The invention further provides other structural and operational improvements in devices of the class to which reference has been made, which improvements not only simplify the structure as such but also provide important distinct advantages in strength, durability, eiiiciency and the like, leading to a trimmer which is of positive and efficient operational design, is light in its Weight, and is rugged and durable in its construction.

To make the manufacture of a paper trimmer a more profitable undertaking, the mechanism embodying the essence of the invention has been designed in such manner as to be simple in its construction, and inexpensive in its manufacture, the usual complexity of components having been so greatly reduced, as to offer a compact design representative of a fundamentally new concept in the combining an'd coacting of its individual parts.

Further, While the components are uniquely compact and simple in construction, they are nevertheless readily accessible for maintenance and replacement purposes with a consequent reduction in maintenance costs over related devices heretofore known, all resulting in important distinct advantages in economy of manufacture, ease of operation, reliability of performance, and capability of ready assembly to provide positiveness and ease of manual control and action under the varying conditions of practical use.

Further objects are to provide a paper trimmer conformable to the desiderata of the preceding paragraphs and offering specific improvements in its various operating instrumentalities which themselves are minimum in number, so that it is simple and compact in accordance with the demands and desires of manufacturers and pur chasers alike and so as to provide distinct advantages in that it is distinctive in its appearance, practical in its value, durable in its organization, reliable in its operation, and efficient in its use.

The provision of a paper trimmer of small proportions and ruggedness and durability, having a convenience of arrangement of parts, have been further desirable features that have been borne in mind in the production and development of the present invention.

These foregoing objects and other incidental ends and advantages will in part be obvious and apparent and will in part be more fully pointed out as the nature of the invention is better understood in the progress of the disclosure below. To the end of attaining these and any other object and advantage hereinafter reasonably appearing, it will be explained that the invention consists substantially in the combination, construction, location and relative arrangement of parts, as described in detail hereinafter, as shown in the annexed drawings, and as defined with particularity in the appended claim.

It will be apparent however that the physical embodiments delineated, albeit the preferred exemplifications, are only indicative of but several of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and in which the component parts may be combined and arranged. Same are submitted as best known embodiments of the invention in accordance with the patent statutes and are given with a view to illustrating and explaining the precise nature of the principles of the invention and their embodiment for practical use, in order that others skilled in the art to which the invention pertains may be enabled to adapt and modify them in numerous embodiments, variations and modifications, each as may be best adapted to the conditions of any particular use.

The invention is not restricted or confined to said embodiments and same are not intended to be exhaustive of, nor limiting of, the spirit or scope hereof. That is, the precise construction of the figures of the drawings need not be slavishly followed as, of course, the paper from that disclosed, such as minor changes and variations in size, shape, thickness, form, proportion, dimensions, integration, cooperation of material 'and/ or type of subassembly and accessory utilized in the invention being previously reverted to, all without departing from the underlying principles, salient features, scope and spirit hereof. Such adaptations and/ or alternative constructions and/ or modifications should be and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and purview and range of equivalence of the below subjoined claim, there being no intent to have this invention limited to or circumscribed by any specific details.

The characteristic features which we consider to be novel with our invention, as to its construction and organization and as to its methods of manufacture and operation, will be better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description forming a part of this specification, when read in conjunction with the illustrations in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference are employed to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the trimming apparatus embodying the novel features of our invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing a modified form of a cutting means of the apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the horizontally and vertically disposed compression springs of the apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 4 is an inverted plan view of the trimming apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the vertically disposed compression spring of the invention in its relationship to adjacent components;

HG. 6 is a partial side elevational view, in small scale, of the trimming apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the guide member of the invention;

FIG. 8 is an inverted plan view of the guide member shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a small-scale exploded side elevational view of the modified form of the lever of the invention shown in FIG. 2 and illustrating the relationship of the cutting blade prior to assembly thereupon;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary end elevational view of the device of the invention employing the lever of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary rear elevational view showing the relationship of the camming faces of the spring housings of the invention.

In the following description and claim, various details will be identified by specific names for convenience. These names, however, are intended to be as generic in their application as the art will permit.

The phraseology or terminology herein employed is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Although specific terms and expressions are employed for purposes of identifying various components, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation and are intended to be as generic in their application as the art will permit.

We have no intention in the use of such specific terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, various modifications being recognized as entirely possible within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, we have shown a platform Work surface 2 which is preferentially formed from wood, although steel, aluminum, plastic, formica or equally light-weight material may be substituted therefor.

A pair of suitable spaced, parallel, longitudinally-extending foot members 4 and 6 are disposed beneath the platform 2 and are secured thereto as by screws 8 or the like so as to be integral therewith for the provision of a strong, unitary construction. Preferentially, said foot members 4 and 6 run against the grain of the platform member 2 so as to assist in the formation of a rigid, non-warpable structure.

Additionally, a foot member 10 may extend transversely relative to the foot members 4 and 6 so as to be disposed beneath the platform 2 and fixed thereto as by screws 12 or the like so as to offer an outer free extremity 14 which extends outwardly beyond the vertical plane of the adjacent side edge of the platform 2, as best shown in FIG. 4, for functioning as a stop as will hereinafter appear.

Preferentially, bumpers such as 16 are fixed to the lowermost faces of the members 4, 6 and 10 to prevent scarring thereby.

The top planar surface of the platform 2 may be delineated into suitable unit squares by means of series of spaced score lines 18 arranged at right angles to each other. The score lines of each series may be spaced at certain predetermined distance apart, as for example one inch, and function for properly aligning the material to be trimmed during the cutting operation.

A horizontally-disposed stationary cutting blade is accommodated within a recess or inset along one edge of the upper planar surface of the platform 2, in manner to partly overlap the same, and is fixed thereto as by screws 22. Said stationary cutting blade is provided with an outermost, elongated, vertically-disposed cutting edge which is disposed slightly beyond the vertical plane of the adjacent side edge of the platform 2 and is adapted to cooperate with a cutting knife to produce a shearing action.

A housing 26 is bolted to the back edge of the platform 2 adjacent the fixed blade 20 and functions as a trunnion. A horizontally-disposed pivot shaft is mounted within a suitable aperture extending through said housing in manner as to be rotatable relative thereto. That is, the housing 26 serves as a bearing lug for the rotative motion of the pivot shaft relative to the housing 26 and platform 2.

One end of the pivot shaft 30 is fixed to a housing 32 integral with and forming a part of a carrier 34. That is to say, the carrier carries a generally right angular pivot shaft which is pivoted in the housing secured to the platform so that the carrier is pivotally mounted in one corner of the platform.

A vertically-disposed movable cutter blade 36 is removably secured to the carrier 34 and has a lowermost horizontally disposed longitudinal cutting edge for cooperating with the cutting edge of the horizontally-disposed stationary cutting blade 20.

Thus, as is known, the movable cutting blade 36 works in a vertical plane in conjunction with the fixed or stationary cutting blade 20 at the edge of the platform 2 to produce a shearing cut and to remove such portion of a work sheet or sheets as is or are placed upon the platform to project beyond the cutting edge of the fixed blade.

The opposite end of the carrier 34 provides a hand engaging end or handle 40 and may be slightly angularly disposed relative to the longitudinal axis of the shank thereof, as shown in FIG. 1, so as to facilitate the gripping thereof and to facilitate the swinging of the carrier up and down relative to the housing 26 and platform 2.

A spring 42 is sleeved around the pivot shaft 30 within a recess in the housing 26 between a nut 44 threadedly engaged with one end of said pivot shaft and a vertically disposed partition wall 46 of the housing, as shown in FIG. 3, wherefore axial movement of the pivot shaft is limited.

As will be observed, in the downward swinging of the carrier 34, the vertically-disposed movable blade 36 thereof is urged against the horizontally-disposed stationary blade 20 for effecting a smooth shearing cut by the action of the spring 42.

A compression lift spring 47 is provided within the housing 32 of the carrier 34 and has an upper extremity seated within a recess in the upper wall of said housing and a lower extremity seated upon a lug 50 projecting laterally outwardly from a bracket 52 which is fixed to the underside of the platform 2 as by screws 54.

A releasable lock pivoted to the member 10 has an upper hook end which is engageable over a stud 62 which extends outwardly from the carrier 34 whereby the carrier may be secured in locked position relative to the platform 2. When the lock 60 is released, the carrier 34 is urged upwardly by the spring 47.

A straight edge abutment 70, projecting above the plane upper surface of the platform 2, is secured by suitable screws 72 along one edge of the platform 2 at right angles to the cutting edge of the stationary cutting blade to form an abutment against which the edge of the paper may lie.

Said abutment may carry indicia 74 such as a graduated scale to facilitate the making of fractional adjustments, the inner edge of said abutment functioning as a guide for the edges of sheets being trimmed. The indicia 74 may be graduated scale sections and may be graduations in inches or in metric equivalents thereof so as to be representative of distances from the cutting edge of the stationary blade.

It is here to be noted that, preferentially, the grain of the wood platform 2 lays parallel to the grain of the straight edge abutment 70, all so as to reduce to a minimum any deviation between the graduations on the horizontal guide or ruler and the vertical scored guide lines in the work platform or work surface due to any expansion or contraction of the wood grain.

An elongated safety bar 76 may, if desired, be disposed above and in spaced parallel relation to the vertical edge of the platform 2 and above the stationary cutting member 20 and may include a transversely-extending leg portion 78 integral with and fixed to one end of the safety bar 76, which leg portion 78 may be fixed to the abutment 7 0 as by screws 79 or the like.

Said bar 76 may serve as a safeguard in preventing the accidental insertion of the operators fingers into the cutting arc of the lever 34.

Said safety bar 76 may be placed adjacent the cutting edge of the stationary cutting member 20 so as to offer an outer side edge abutting the plane of movement of the movable cutting knife.

By vertically aligning the said outer side edge of the safety bar 76 with the line desired to be cut on the workpiece, which is placed therebeneath, the exact line of cleavage may be determined.

A bumper 80 may be aifixed to the lower surface of the safety bar 76 at its opposite extremity to hold said bar in spaced relationship relative to and above the member 20 wherefore work too be trimmed may be passed thereunder in advance of being moved into the cutting position.

Further in the practice of our invention, a thin, flexible gage member 82 may be employed, if desired, and may 'be disposed above the plane of the platform 2 and have a flange (not shown) depending from its upper extremity whereby said gage member may be adjustably secured around and relative to the abutment 76. Its opposite lower extremity may be provided with a depending flange 84 having a lower ofiset end portion 85 which grips the lowermost forward horizontal edge of the platform 2. A thumb screw 86 is received in a threaded aperture provided in the flange S4 and is adapted to engage the forward horizontal edge of the platform 2 and, when suitably tightened, serves to clamp the gage member 82 tightly relative to said platform 2 to prevent relative movement.

The gage member 82 may be urged to any desired workgaging position in advance of the movable blade by the loosening of the thumb screw 86 and the tightening thereof when the guide member is in the new and desired position.

The functioning of the cutting blade is as follows:

The housing 26 is so positioned with respect to the stationary blade 24] that the pivot pin 30 is carried at a point spaced laterally from the stationary blade an amount suflicient to require the movable blade to be slightly inclined to the fixed blade at the commencement of the cutting stroke.

The spring 42 tends to urge the pivot shaft 30 to the left, as viewed in FIG. 3. The carrier and cutting blade are raised to an upright position preparatory to the cut ting stroke, being aided in this upward movement by the action of spring 47 and the force exerted by the manual manipulations of the operator. Then, as the carrier and movable cutting blade are brought downwardly, the entire movable blade assembly is caused to be urged toward the right, looking at FIG. 3, against the action of spring 42 so that the blade engages the cutting edge of the stationary blade.

The tension on the spring 42 is determined by nut 44 7 and controls the amount of friction and, therefore, to a a certain extent, the cutting action between the two blades.

Considerable tension may be placed on the spring 42 so that, if the cutting blade should be knocked down by accident, its movement will be arrested when it first engages the cutting edge of the stationary blade 20 and it will not fall all the way down and possibly cause injury if the fingers or other part of the operators body should e in the way.

As aforesaid, the member projects outwardly from the platform 2 a sufficient distance to act as a stop for the cutter blade when moved to its lowermost position.

In the event that material is inserted for cutting which is more resistant to cutting than that for which the machine is normally set, the normal lateral engagement pressure established by the spring 42 can be supplemented by the operator by manually urging the handle inwardly as it is urged downwardly.

The compression spring 47 tends to resist this downward swing and aids in the establishment of a normal lateral engagement between the blades of predetermined pressure. That is, the downwardmovement of the mov able blade increases the compression in the spring.

The adjacent faces of housing 32. and housing 26 are cammed so that downward movement of the movable blade increases the tension on spring 42 and aids in the maintenance of a proper shearing angle of the blades so that point contact is always maintained.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 11, it will be seen that the adjacent faces 49 and 51 of the housings 26 and 32, re spectively, are disposed in a kissing relationship. As the carrier 34 and cutting blade 36 are brought downwardly in a cutting stroke, the cam face 51 of the housing 32 rides angularly downwardly and outwardly along the cam face 49 of the housing 26, thereby imparting a corresponding outward or lateral motion to the carrier and cutting blade enabling said cutting blade to maintain point contact with the stationary blade at all times and insuring a proper shearing angle of the cutting blade. FIG. 11 illustrates the relative positions of said camming faces when the carrier arm is in the closed or locked position.

A principal advantage from the use of our invention flows from the guide arrangement, now to be described.

If paper is to be trimmed to various sizes, that is to say, if there i not a relatively large number of one size paper to be cut, the entire guide assembly may be removed by loosening the thumb nut and lifting the assembly out of position. If however, several sheets are to be cut to the same size, the guide is set to that size and,

the extending ends of the stop strip being contiguous to the scale, the guide may be very accurately positioned and the thumb nut tightened. Tightening of the nut holds the strip against the top face of the platform so that there is no possibility of the paper slipping under the stop at any point.

The guide may comprise a body member 109 having an elongated stop strip 102 facing the cutting edge and against which an edge of a paper sheet may be placed.

Pairs of downwardly depending legs 104 are receivable in complemental transversely extending slots 166 in the upper planar surface of the platform 2 wherefore the guide, slidably adjusted, can be moved toward and away from the cutting edge.

The lower surface of the body member is provided with a pair of clip members 108 disposed in overlapped relation and held on the stem of a thumb screw 110 by a nut 112.

Downwardly depending feet 114 extend outwardly from the clip members 108 and are inclined at a slight angle. These feet 114 are slidably receivable in the slots 196.

By the tightening of the thumb screw 110, the feet 114 may be moved toward each other so as to cause same to grip the side walls of the slots 106 for the seeurement of the guide to the platform.

in the modified form of movable cutting member shown in FIG. 2, we have shown a carrier 134 which carries a transverse cutter blade 136 on its lower surface. Said blade may be secured to the carrier 134 as by screws 137 or the like. It will be observed that in this modified construction, the cutter 136 is transverse to the plane of the carrier 134 thereby exposing a smaller vertical cutting area for engagement with the stationary cutting means.

Such modified form is better illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 where the movable cutting lade 136 is shown as being horizontally disposed relative to the carrier 134. It may :be formed from fiat stock and fitted to said carrier as by screws 137 so as to be formed with a curvature conforming to the curvature of the lower plane of the carrier.

In this instance, the stationary blade 12% is substantially vertically disposed so as to provide a cutting edge at its upper planar surface.

It is a distinct advantage of this modified construction to present a stationary blade which may be provided with a pair of ground edges, whereby when one edge becomes dull or worn, the blade may be removed and inverted to present a new sharp cutting edge. This feature is best illustrated in FIG. 10, wherein the edges 121 and 123 present ground, cutting surfaces.

In the modified construction of FIG. 10, said horizontal blade 136 and carrier 134 work in a vertical plane with the fixed or stationary vertical cutting blade at the edge of a platform 192 to produce a shearing cut. it will be noted that the stationary blade 120 is slightly inclined from the true vertical, thereby presenting only the small ground edge 121 to the downwardly moving cutting blade 136, and insuring a sharp point of contact between the two blades.

A foot member 116 extends transversely relative to the platform 162 and offers an outer free extremely 114 which extends outwardly beyond the vertical, stationary blade 129, which extremity 114 functions as a stop in limiting the downward travel of the carrier arm 134. A bumper 115 may be disposed on the upper surface of said extremity 11 to act as a cushion for the horizontal cutting blade 136, when said blade and carrier are in the locked or closed position.

A releasable lock pivoted to the member 110 has an upper hook end which is engageable over a stud 162 which extends outwardly from the carrier 134 whereby said carrier may be secured in locked position relative to the platform 2.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description and all modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a trimming board of the character described, a rectangular platform member having a plane top face and a vertically-disposed metal cutting edge along one side thereof, a horizontally-disposed cutting knife pivoted to said platform member near one end of said cutting edge, a straight edge abutment running along one side of said platform member at right angles to said cutting edge, spaced parallel slots in the plane top face of said platform member extending in a direction away from said cutting edge, a guide assembly comprising a body member having a stop strip facing said cutting edge against which one edge of a paper sheet may extend, pairs of legs depending from said body member and slidably receivable in said slots in said platform member, a pair of clip members on the lower surface of said body member, a pair of foot members depending from said clips and extending angularly outwardly therefrom and slidably receivable in said slots in said platform member, and a manually releasable grip means on said body member fixing said clip members thereto and adapted on rotation to cause said pair of foot members to grip the walls of said slots for holding said guide assembly in any selected position with respect to the cutting edge on the plane top surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 938,741 Campbell Nov. 2, 1909 1,112,076 McGorvin Sept. 28, 1914 Bosch Oct. 8, 1929 Ford Dec. 21, 1937 Lund Jan. 2, 1940 'Blanc Sept. 23, 1941 Blane Mar. 28, 1944 Willits Apr. 30, 1946 Murphy Feb. 8, 1949 Garwood July 26, 1949 Dietrich Mar. 11, 1952 Becker Jan. 29, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Ger-many June 13, 1900 

